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appearing in ubud writers and readers festival 2015 to share about ‘story telling 101 for creative writing’. grasp the fundamentals of storytelling by using the basic building blocks of a story, you will find out how to create your own work of fiction.

challenge yourself to wake up early morning and meet creative jakartans on creativemornings jakarta at conclave, september 11, 8am.

let’s share how empathy will give different voice into our works and makes us not only becoming a better creator but also a better human.

#Repost @cm_jakarta.
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Windy Ariestanty has a 10-year experience as an editor-in-chief and director of GagasMedia Group, which houses 2 leading publishers for young people, GagasMedia and Bukune.
In early 2015, she decided to enter a new field—creative communication for the publishing industry by handling 27 publishers under AgroMedia Group umbrella. She is currently developing Writing Table, a pop-up creative writing school run together by several young Indonesian writers.
Windy is also an author. Her writings convey different point of views and angles on traveling. Instead of talking about places, she dug her topics into human interaction issues. Life Traveler, her first travelogue, which contains of narrative travel stories was shortlisted at Anugerah Pembaca Indonesia or Indonesian Reader’s Award in 2012.
Windy Ariestanty on Empathy
Friday, September 11th, 2015. 8am onwards.
Conclave Co-working Space, Wijaya.

someone in inle told me that sang dragon or burmese rosewood is the national flower of #myanmar. the yellow flower blooms during april with a fragrant scent, which is also when myanmarese celebrate their new year.

for myanmarese, padauk or padouk (common name for this flower among the locals) represents youth, love, and romance, while the tree (is used for furnitures) itself symbolizes strength.

remembered that information, when i saw this girl who was wearing padouk as the crown, i approached her. she looked extremely charming with that sang dragon flower on her head and thanaka on her face. a young burmese girl that captivated my eyes and heart.

‘do you like that flower?’ i pointed her head. she looked at her mother who was preparing their drink kiosk by the irrawaddy river. her mother said something to her that i couldn’t understand.

‘may i take your picture?’ i shooked my camera. she smiled and gave me this look. i didn’t wait any longer to take her photo. when she saw her picture on my camera, she took the flower and handed some to me.

oh, #myanmar, your people are so kind and i am massively in love with you.

i actually didn’t want to post this photo to my ig. this shot isn’t perfect perhaps. this shot is lack of techniques in photography. but somehow this is one of my fave shots in #myanmar. i just showed it to several people, told them how much i loved her expression. told them that everytime i saw this picture i would smile.

the story behind this picture wasn’t heroic, it was just an auspicious coincidence. i was sitting at the bus station near sule pagoda in #yangon, #myanmar, waiting for my friends. we wanted to go to the market after pacing in some alleyways of the city of yangon. there, in front of me, was a bus full of novices. they were about to go back to their monastery after visiting the pagoda.

she was there, sitting in silence meanwhile the temperature on that day was over 40 degree celsius and the bus had no air conditioner. some of her friends read books, some talked to each other with a low tone of voice.

i snapped without looking at my camera’s screen. i just didn’t want to lose her expression–the expression that reminds me of the reason why i am in love with #myanmar.